School winds down as construction picks up

With students leaving for the summer at the end of this week, don’t expect campus to quiet down. Rather the sound of construction machinery and workers will keep the chatter coming, as Wildcat Stadium, the Teague renovations and new tennis clubhouse construction hit full swing.

Director of athletics, Lee De Leon said everything is progressing well as Wildcat Stadium is set to get turf later this month and the video board, which is set to be the fourth largest among FCS competitors, will have panels put up next week.

“By the end of July we expect all of our major components of the stadium to be done,” De Leon said. “And then we will start all the branding and graphics and furniture and equipment and all that stuff will go in in August in time for the first game in September. The nuts-n-bolts of the stadium will be done by the end of July, a lot of the areas are already being finished up.”

De Leon said he has no concerns about the timing of the projects and expects the stadium and Teague renovations to be near completion if not finished by mid-August.

“It has been a really fun, exciting project, but it has also been extremely difficult as the number of decisions that have to be made is unbelievable,” De Leon said. “Luckily we have a great team involved that is helping me make decisions along the way.”

Earlier this month, Alumni Relations also selected a committee to tackle the task of planning festivities surrounding the opening weekend of the stadium, which is set to include a concert and potentially a chapel the Friday before the first game.

The construction of Teague and Wildcat Stadium are on similar time frames, while the tennis clubhouse is slated to be completed next fall. The department of athletics will also begin planning for the sand volleyball courts, which De Leon hopes will be completed in time for the ACU’s inaugural beach volleyball season next spring.

“It’s amazing to me that within 12 months all of these projects will be done,” De Leon said. “It’s a lot at once, but at the same it’s so incredibly exciting and there is so much momentum, and to think that a year from now this whole part of campus is going to be completely transformed, it’s really exhilarating.”

As of this week, De Leon said the stadium has reached $41 million in funding and the department of athletics has already started raising money for the beach volleyball facility; however, the tennis clubhouse and Teague renovations are fully funded.